Created by Jenny Lumet & Alex Kurtzman
Starring Rebecca Breeds, Michael Cudlitz
Thursdays at 10PM on CBS

by Emily Maesar, Staff Writer

“Sometimes remembering old wounds can feel like a warm bath.”

As Clarice Starling closes in on a major part of the conspiracy at the heart of Clarice, episode five “Get Right with God” sees her finally using her empathy as a weapon, a move I hope to see even more as the series continues. 

At the end of last week’s episode, we saw Clarice close in on Marilyn Felker, the doctor who’d performed the drug trials that led to a coverup with a body count. She’d been pretending to be her sister, Luanne, who worked as a nurse. Uncertain that everything was on the up and up, Clarice circled back to question her and, for once, Clarice going to find evidence and a possible suspect alone doesn’t work out in her favor. Marilyn knocks her out and keeps her hostage, while the rest of VICAP and Ardelia try to retrace her steps and find her before it’s too late. 

Because Clarice is being kept by Marilyn, partially drugged, she keeps going in and out of hallucinations. When she’s awake and aware, Clarice uses her empathy to put herself in both Luanne and Marilyn’s shoes, trying to gain the upper hand. A series of calculations which nearly work… but ultimately do not. When she’s drugged up, however, she talks to her dead father (complete with the back of his head blown out), she sees herself on the farm in Montana trying to save the lamb (I really loved every shot of the farm stuff), and she sees herself in Buffalo Bill’s well (a properly striking image). 

All of the hallucinations offer such a great insight into where Clarice is, and how she continues to simply not process her trauma. The good doctor would have an absolute field day with all of this. But, on the flip side of that, something I think this show is doing so well, is actually not making me think about the absence of Hannibal Lecter. Despite the fact that my brain just can’t shut up about him generally, the show is so engrossing and so deeply it’s own, that I tend to even forget about his existence while I’m watching it. A massive feat that should really be celebrated, since he cannot appear (at least for now. We’ll see if that ever changes). 

I’d be remiss if I didn’t, once again, sing the praises of Rebecca Breeds. Truly, I think she’s doing such a remarkable job. It’s hard to step into the shoes of not just a generally iconic character, but the character that won Jodie Foster her second Oscar. But Breeds is not only holding steady, but making Clarice her own. Besides, I’m always taken by actors who can do very serious and good work, but bring some levity. There’s one particular line in this episode about alphabetizing that made me burst out laughing. Her range really allows Clarice to flourish in a spectacular way. 

Also, I think it’s so fascinating that the shows set in Thomas Harris’s world, more often than the films, tend to use interesting abstractions of filmmaking to tell their stories–but also that the difference tends to be that it’s used for the heroes in the shows and not the serial killers. Sure, there’s interesting and off-kilter filmmaking happening in some of the films (like The Silence of the Lambs, of course), but for the most part the Hannibal Lector stories are shot like “typical” police procedurals. Well… technically those early films helped set the stage for how we shoot crime scenes and investigations - but you get my point.

The films set in Lecter’s world tend to be more straightforward, but the shows have been running a mile-a-minute. They've been experimenting with how to visualize the empathic psyches of both Will Graham and Clarice Starling to wild success, at least in my book. I haven’t quite formed an idea as to why all of that is–at least not yet, but it’s a thought that keeps turning in my head as I continue to watch Clarice’s story unfold weekly. I have a hunch that I’ll have my answer by the end of season one of Clarice, though.